The continually high quality and informative
website The
Diplomat has produced an excellent 4,000 word (including graphs) article, Vietnam's
Military Modernization. The article is dated October 28, 2016 and has a wealth of detail
and commentary. The full article includes sections on Vietnam’s defence force modernization, (line, bar and pie) charts on the Defense Budget and arms imports in comparison to other ASEAN
countries, Defense White Paper, Navy, Air Force, Ground Force, Missiles, ISR
and Conclusion.

The article is by Zachary Abuza, PhD, Professor at the National War College (in Washington DC.) where he specializes in Southeast Asian security issues. The views expressed here are his own, and not the views of the Department of Defense or National War College. Follow him on Twitter @ZachAbuza. and by

Nguyen Nhat Anh is a graduate of the University of Texas at Dallas, where he focused on International Political Economy. You can follow him on Twitter @anhnnguyen93

To convey an idea of its quality, the following is a 515 word extract of the 4,000
word article. The extract is on recent changes in the Vietnamese Navy including
detail on its Kilo submarine force. I haven’t seen this quality of Vietnamese submarine
detail elsewhere on the Internet.

“Navy

No service has benefitted
more from modernization than the Vietnam People’s Army Navy (VPAN). Vietnam has
acquired six Russian-builtKilo-class
submarines, five of which have been delivered, and the sixth will arrive in
early 2017. That gives Vietnam the most advanced submarine fleet in the region.
Vietnam has already trained nine of 12 submarine crews and at least one
submarine is currently patrolling without its Russian trainers and advisers.
Vietnam surprised many when it successfully purchased submarine-launched Klub
anti-shore missiles from Russia. Yet most evidence, to date, is that the ships
are spending most of their training time on the surface, with only occasional
dives, rather than prolonged underwater training missions.

Vietnam acquired twoGepard-class frigates in
2011, its largest and most modern surface warfare ships. Two more are currentlyunder construction, to be delivered late 2016 or early
2017; these will be equipped with advanced anti-submarine warfare capabilities.
A third pair is currently being negotiated.

Vietnam acquired two fastMolniyamissile attack crafts from Russia.
More importantly, it purchased the production license for six more that have
already been built, and is currently negotiating the license to buildfour more. The newMolniya-class
will have additional capabilities, including being armed with Klub
ship-to-shore missiles, in addition to the existing Uran anti-ship missile.
These will give Vietnam the ability to target any facilities China has
constructed in the Spratly or Paracel Islands.

Indiaprovideda $500
million line of credit to Vietnam for the acquisition of Indian defense systems
during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Hanoi in September 2016. There
has been no information on exactly how that fund will be used, aside
from $99 million allocated to produce an undisclosed number ofpatrol craftfor Vietnam’s coast guard, including the license
for Vietnam to begin local production. Vietnam may also move toward
the acquisition of the BrahMos anti-ship missile (discussed below), though no
agreement was reached during Indian Minister of Defense Manohar Parrikar’s visit
to Hanoi in June 2016.

Vietnam is also trying to acquire
niche capabilities to make up for shortfalls in its existing arsenal. One
example is the ItalianPluto Plusmine-identification
unmanned underwater vehicle, which was revealed in May 2016. It will assist
Soviet 1960sYurkaminesweepers currently, but at the
very end of their service life, with the VPAN. This acquisition also shows the
VPA’s penchant for integrating older Russian systems with new Western weapons
and equipment, and for looking westward for new purchases when it needs to.
That being said, the skeleton of the VPA’s armory remains Russian, now and at
least in the near future. And attempts at integrating Western and
Soviet/Russian platforms have historically not gone well.

In sum, Vietnam’s naval
developments to date have been impressive. Between 2011 and 2015, naval vessels
accounted for44 percent of
defense imports. We expect in the coming years for Vietnam to
continue with this trajectory, though at a slower rate as the new focus will be
on the ground force. Maritime acquisitions will continue, yet the navy remains
a small service arm that is unlikely to grow significantly.”

1 comment:

Kyle Mizokami has written a great National Interest blog article "Why China and Russia Still Fear America's Los Angeles-Class Submarines" of October 29, 2016 http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/why-china-russia-still-fear-americas-los-angeles-class-18222

He deftly covers the Los Angeles class submarine program in historical context.

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